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Charlotte’s Matrimony brings the family to Revival Fest Sept. 14

Family bands such as Matrimony have always been with us, and perhaps with good reason. Siblings not only have shared DNA, but they grew up in the same household, influenced by their parents music collection, which provides a common ground that often gives birth to great music. Not to mention being in a band is often tough, and the fact that blood binds them together could certainly help the family members get over the inevitable fights and squabbles that go with a life on the road. After all, a band is a relationship between multiple people who spend way too much time together in tight spaces for too many hours at a stretch. It’s bound to get intense, and things will occasionally get ugly. Yet when the band consists of family members who grew up together, they’re all that much better at getting over it.

But what about the music? There is a unique quality to sibling harmonies that you simply don’t hear with people who are not related, I’m not saying it’s necessarily better but it’s definitely different. Some might laugh at this example, but can you imagine what the Bee Gees would have sounded like if the brothers Gibb were just three guys who met at university? All I know is that the sound wouldn’t have been the same. I would even argue that at times family members create counter melodies and layered rhythms that add up to more than the sum of their parts. Anyone who has played in a live setting for any length of time will tell you that every now and then there is a little magic that happens, it’s almost like the universe is pulling some cosmic marionette strings and playing you playing the instrument. Perhaps that magic happens just a little more frequently in family bands. I only know that I like it.

Matrimony consists of Ashlee Hardee Brown, her husband Jimmy Brown, and Ashlee’s brothers Jordan and CJ Hardee. They are scheduled to play at 6 PM on the Paint Shop stage at Revival Fest this Saturday, September 14. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time online, or at the gate the day of the show.

Below is a fairly new video for what might be their most popular song, Obey Your Guns.

In no particular order, I thought I might make a short list of some other family bands to think about: